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Montgomery's big break happened in October 2011. That's when Oxheart, one of Houston's hottest restaurants, asked him to make custom steak knives for its customers. Other restaurants began to request his knives as well, including Down House in the Heights.

"He makes knives you can't get anywhere else," said Mark Decker, head chef at Down House. "You can customize these any way you want, and you can actually talk with the maker. So there's a lot more information you can get and a lot more questions you can ask."

Serenity Knives' reputation grew even more when articles appeared in Bon Appétit and Food & Wine. By May of last year, Montgomery was a full-time bladesmith, and his wait list was a year long.

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Since then, he's made more than 200 knives. While Montgomery declined to disclose annual revenue, Serenity Knives range from $200 for an all-purpose kitchen knife to $325 and much higher for a custom chef's knife.

It takes Montgomery about four hours to make a steak knife, while a chef's knife can take more than 15.

"These are for people who work with a knife up to 12 hours a day," Montgomery said. "So we want it to feel good in their hands. Most chefs' knives will last only about nine years because they're used so much."

The type of handle helps determines a knife's price. While many handles are made of wood - like olive wood and lignum vitae - Montgomery sometimes uses exotic components like giraffe bones. Those add $100 to the cost.

"But I only use bones that are harvested from dead giraffes," he's quick to explain.

In addition to arming area chefs, Montgomery creates custom knives for hunters.

"I've gotten a lot of orders from people who hunt elk and moose," Montgomery said. "I'll cold-stamp their name into the steel, so if they hunt in a group they never misplace their knife."

So far he's suffered only one major injury: a 2½-inch gash to the right hand.

"I used superglue to close it back up," Montgomery said. "The knife was left improperly in a vise, which I haven't done since."

Montgomery cited several things people can do to prolong the life of their knives.

"Formica cutting boards drastically reduce the life of a knife," he said. "So always use wood."

He also recommends that nonprofessionals sharpen their kitchen knives every three months or so.

"Of course, if you're a chef, make that once a week," he said.

Montgomery recently hired a part-time bladesmith to help him. His newest offering? A short sword to use for everything from self-defense to role-playing medieval characters.